You may have noticed the three photos that appear on the left side of the blog. They are chosen randomly from a list of our favorite pictures. Today, I changed how they are displayed, so now if you see a picture you like, you can click on it to see it in a larger size. From there you can purchase prints or click on it to see it in an even larger size for use as a computer background or wallpaper. I hope people enjoy this new feature.

Our second year up here should be even more fun with several trips planned and a few people visiting us.

Troy and I will have our 2nd wedding anniversary in April, but no specific plans for it yet.

In July, my parents will be visiting us and we're planning on going to Olympic National Park for a few days. My friend Megan is also thinking of visiting sometime this summer.

We'll also be doing a lot more hiking, going to parks, and generally spending more time outside in the great weather. There are a few places we've been wanting to hike that are a ways east on I-90.

We'll continue finding new restaurants to eat at and hopefully find several more that we really like.

The big trip for us this year will be visiting our friends in Australia this fall. That will be a pretty awesome trip.

Then, late in our second year here we'll finally be visiting Vancouver, Canada to see a few events for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Sounds like a fun, full year of trips, visiting with friends and family, and exploring more of Seattle!

After living here for a full year, I know what I like and what I don't like about living in Seattle. Fortunately, I like what I like a lot more than I dislike what I dislike. Here are the three things I like most about living here, in order:

1. 
   Livable Urbanity - There are shops and restaurants in our neighborhood and we live close to other lively inner-city neighborhoods. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, and residences within walking distance, which means that there's plenty to see and do and other people out seeing and doing. A lot of other stuff is just a bus-ride away. There are many historic or otherwise interesting buildings nearby and a lot of public art, especially downtown. All of this contributes to making Seattle a walkable city. It has been great being able to walk to the park or to shop or see a movie and living here has convinced me that I would never choose to live in a car-dependent area again.


2. Outdoors - The natural beauty here is incredible. On clear days you can see mountains to the east and west, including the most prominent peak in North America. We have three national parks within a few hours' drive. The city is surrounded by plenty of hiking and other outdoor opportunities around mountains, streams, and old-growth forest and within the city are several big parks with plenty of walking/hiking trails.


3. Weather - Aside from winter, the weather here has been a great fit for me: I don't like hot weather and don't mind cool weather and rain. There are a lot of refreshingly cool days, which are great for going outside with a jacket. A few summer days were too hot, but the weather was mostly ideal with temperatures in the 70s and clear skies. There are very few days that are too inhospitable for me to want to spend time outside, with the exception of winter, which I discuss in greater detail below.

Here are the things I don't like, in order:

1. Not being able to watch Cowboys games - This was probably the single most annoying thing about living here over the past year. Some of the games were broadcast at 10:00, which is early and during church. Only about 1/3 of the games were broadcast locally, so for all the rest of the games we had to go to a sports bar. It got better as we got more used to it, but it still sucked not being able to watch the games in the comfort of home.


2. Winter - Working indoors all day without windows, with the sun rising around 8 and setting around 4:30, was tough. The sun came out, but I didn't get to see it much. On top of that, snowfall and ice shut down the city for several days (which is somewhat rare, I'm told) and almost canceled our flight to Texas for Christmas. I'd say the nice summer makes up for the uncomfortable winter, which is why I'm really looking forward to the end of winter.


3. Roads and how people drive on them - The thing that first greeted us when we arrived in Washington was the rough sound of the highways followed shortly by clumps of slow drivers, predominantly in the left lane. The roads in the city are worse, with potholes practically everywhere, fortunately the drivers aren't as obnoxious as on the freeway. Traffic is supposedly bad here, too, but I'm affected by traffic much less than I was when I lived in Dallas. Good thing we don't drive much.

Overall, I'm happy to be living here. The livable urbanity and outdoors are two strong assets of the Pacific Northwest that are hard to find together elsewhere in the country and make up for the relatively insignificant complaints I have about living in Seattle.

One of the things we love about living in Seattle is all of the hiking opportunities nearby. We've done quite a few hikes and walks since we've been here, all of which have been enjoyable, but there are a few trails that I can't wait to hike again.

• 
  Cascade Pass at North Cascades National Park (original post) - This was probably the longest and most difficult hike we did, at 7.4 miles and 1700 feet of elevation gain, which isn't difficult at all compared to a lot of other trails, but it was a big hike to us. We started the hike near glaciers and hiked past streams into an alpine meadow with scattered boulders before the trail ended at Cascade Pass with a beautiful view. It's a few hours away, but worth the drive and the effort.


• 
  Lime Kiln Trail at Robe Canyon Historical Park (original post) - This trail started closer to us than Cascade Pass did, but it was still one of the more distant trails we did. While it was also several miles long, it was pretty flat, since it followed an old rail line. We walked parallel to a river for a few miles, through the remains from an old settlement, past a lime kiln, and stopped next to the river for a snack before heading back. A relatively easy hike with a lot of stuff going for it, and the memory of us relaxing next to the river is something I will keep with me.


• Any trail at Cougar Mountain (original posts 1, 2, 3, and 4) - Located about 30 minutes away, with many trails of varying difficulty, we've enjoyed going here many times. It doesn't have the amazing views of Cascade Pass trail or the river of Lime Kiln Trail, but it's a beautiful area with lots of trails to explore. We'll definitely go back many more times.

I'm looking forward to doing more hikes as the weather warms up and hope to hike these trails again and discover many more wonderful trails.

We've done so many fun things over the past year living in Seattle. We've had so much fun exploring the area and spending time together. One of the coolest things about living here is that we're so close to natural beauty. There are two mountain ranges close by, tons of evergreen trees, lakes and other bodies of water, and so much more. Here are the top 3 highlights of our first year here with a brief description of each:

1. 
   Tulip Festival & Deception Pass - Going to the tulip festival for our one year wedding anniversary was really nice and romantic. We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast, which we'd never done before, and saw field after field of colorful tulips in bloom. It's just amazing the number of flowers in such a small area during the tulip festival. We went to Deception Pass during the same trip and it was almost equally impressive.


2. 
   Exploring North Cascades National Park - Hiking on Cascade Pass in NCNP was so cool and was definitely the best, most fun, and most beautiful hike we've ever done. The drive through the mountains and past the rivers in the valleys was so peaceful. Glaciers stood still near the mountain tops and almost looked as if they were hanging there, suspended in mid-air. Hopefully we'll go back again this summer.


3. 
   Visting Mount Rainier - Visiting Mount Rainier was pretty awesome. The mountain itself is so breathtaking and beautiful. We went in early June and there was still a ton of snow on the ground, but it was warm enough to wear short sleeves at the same time. The drive up to it was pretty and took a surprisingly long time, despite the fact that we live relatively close to it. It's definitely the tallest mountain I've ever been on. We could have spent so many more hours there hiking and exploring. A day really is not enough time to do Mount Rainier justice.

Here are some more highlights:

• Exploring and shopping at Pike Place Market, including the Savor Seattle food tour


• Taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island & exploring the waterfront


• Front row seats to Phantom of the Opera


• Eating at the Space Needle


• Mariners games (April, May, and July)


• Seeing movies at the Cinerama (Indy 4 & The Dark Knight)


• Seeing the view from Kerry Park & Alki Beach


• Snoqualmie Falls

For the first few months we lived here, we struggled at first to find good, relatively inexpensive restaurants to enjoy. However, after trying quite a few places, we've found several that we really like, and five that we can confidently identify as our favorite places to eat in Seattle.

1. 
   Red Mill Burgers - By far, our favorite place to eat in Seattle. The buns are good, the toppings are fresh, and the meat tastes good without falling apart. They add Red Mill sauce to the burgers, which adds a little bit of spice and makes the burger taste even better. The burgers aren't too big to eat, leaving room for some fries or a shake. And, it's all pretty cheap, especially for Seattle. My only complaints are that it's really hard to find somewhere to sit because they're always so busy. If you'd like, you can stop reading here, because it doesn't get better than this.


2. 
   Pagliacci Pizza - We tried at least five other pizza places before we found this one and it has become our favorite. Crispy, chewy crust with plenty of tasty toppings, along with a distinctively delicious cheese has made Pagliacci voted Seattle's best pizza since 1986 and our favorite too.


3. 
   Djan’s Thai Restaurant - There are lots of good Thai places here, but we both liked this one the most when we went. The flavors were great on Lesley's phad thai noodles and my fried rice. Plus, the atmosphere was nice, with a simple, white-walled dining area inside of an old house with windows overlooking an active street. It's not as convenient to us as some other places but we're looking forward to going back.


4. 
   Piroshky Piroshky - A staple of historic Pike Place Market, the fresh-baked bread smell is strong enough to pull us in the door almost every time. It's a great place to stop for a small bite to eat, with flavors like beef and onion as well as sweet buns with apple and cinnamon. One of our favorites is the smoked salmon pate.


5. 
   Noah's Bagels - The only chain restaurant to make the list, we've gone here more than the rest of the restaurants on this list combined. We've tried the local places, but nothing beats a freshly baked Noah's Asiago bagel with cream cheese. Even bagels a few hours old at Noah's are better than any of the other bagels we've had in the city. The worst thing about Noah's is having to wait in line 5-10 minutes to find out that they've sold out of our favorites.

Over the past year we've found a few other places that we like, but none of them match up to these. Hopefully over the next year we can find even more quality restaurants to enjoy.

One year ago today, we drove into Seattle after a long road trip and checked into our apartment. It's hard to believe that one year ago we were lifelong Texans with a dream of moving to Seattle, excited and optimistic, yet somewhat uncertain about the future. In that time we've started new jobs, made friends, joined a church, done a lot of fun things, and learned a great deal about our new city. It's been the most remarkable year of my life. We've enjoyed this past year and are looking forward to a great year 2.

Here's a list of posts that we're going to post in the next few days about our first year here:

• (Feb 24) - Favorite Places to eat in Seattle


• (Feb 25) - Highlights of our first year


• (Feb 26) - Best hikes


• (Feb 27) - Likes & Dislikes after 1 year


• (Feb 28) - Looking forward to year 2

Two of our good friends moved to Melbourne, Australia for grad school earlier this month. It's pretty cool that they were able to apply for schools and get everything worked out in order to move to another country.

We're going to visit them sometime this year, most likely at the end of September and into the first half of October. It's the start of their spring in October and airfare is significantly cheaper than in November or December. It all depends on their schedule though. They said there's plenty of room in their place for us to stay, which will save us a ton of money.

We're thinking we'd spend about a week or so in Melbourne and then a few more days in Sydney. We'll probably be gone a total of two weeks when you count the time it takes to fly back and forth. It'll be nice to hang out with them in their new city and have them show us around and be a tour guide of sorts. The weather should be decent too.

We're really looking forward to it. It'll be the biggest and longest trip we've ever taken. It'll also be the first time for me to be outside of the United States (assuming I don't visit Canada before then). We can't wait to visit them in Australia! Now if only we could figure out a way to fit New Zealand in there...

The climate here is pretty moist, especially in the winter, which makes moss grow on most sidewalks and tree trunks. It almost looks like the sidewalks have grass carpet on them.

Today is the one year anniversary of us driving out of Texas on our way to Seattle. It was a very exciting time for us and we updated this blog frequently. If you'd like to review our posts form that time, you can look back at all posts from February 2008 or all posts about moving, including pictures and video from the trip.

Looking back, it does seem like a while ago that we left, but it's hard to believe that it's already been a year. It's interesting to think back about how things used to be in the only place we'd ever really known and how things have changed. Our memories of Texas are not as fresh as they once were, but they will always stay with us.

In a few days we'll reflect on this past year with reviews of our time in Seattle so far.

This is almost too stupid to be true:

The Seattle City Council is expected Tuesday to approve a surcharge on city water customers to help cover the cost of a $22 million court-ordered rebate to water customers.

As a result of the latest court decision, anyone who was a Seattle Public Utilities water customer between March 2002 and December 2004 is due a refund under a court order issued in October. But current water customers will be the ones paying the bill.

So, basically, water customers will be charged for the rebate they're going to receive. Except we're not getting a rebate because we weren't a water customer back when water customers were overcharged, so we get to pay for other customers' rebates.

We've become friends with a couple that moved here a few weeks after we did, but they've decided to move back home. The good thing for us is that they're trying to get rid of a lot of their stuff, so we got a couple of good games from them, Risk and Taboo, for $8 total.

We've added the current weather on the left side of the page. I don't know why we didn't think to do this sooner, but now you can see the weather conditions here every time you visit. You can also click to view the forecast. Enjoy!

One of our friends from church said he bought an annual pass for the Space Needle for only $30, regularly $120, which means it pays for itself after just one trip. The annual pass is good for you and one other guest basically any day, any time, to go up to the observation deck. You also receive a complimentary glass of wine for both you and your guest on your first trip up. On top of that, there is a 20% discount on retail merchandise included, as well as up to six additional guest tickets may be purchased at the group rate discount price.

All of that sounded like an awesome deal, so we purchased our pass online and went to pick it up on Monday. They ran out of actual cards, so we'll have to go back to get it. We went up in the Space Needle while there of course. It was only our second trip up there. It was really clear on Monday and we had great views of the mountains and the city. It'll be nice to use our pass and the additional guest tickets at a group discount when my parents come visit this summer. Not to mention being able to go after church or whenever we are in the area.

It was sunny Saturday afternoon and there was an art walk in our neighborhood, so I figured it was a good time to go for a walk. We stopped by a local bookstore to check out some art they had posted, share a cup of tea, and sit down and read, while a acoustic guitarist played for the bookstore. After that, we saw some un-leased retail space being used as an art gallery. We walked through and browsed the art while finishing our tea. Later on, we headed up the hill to pick up a book for me to read. I got a Benjamin Franklin autobiography published in 1939 with a 25 cent price printed on the cover, which the cashier rang up for 12 cents. We also picked up a book on wine. It was a nice afternoon.

On top of seeing the Lion King and going out to eat at The Met, Troy also gave me some red tulips he bought from Pike Place Market. They were tightly closed on Friday and then opened up really pretty on Saturday. I think tulips are one of my favorite flowers.

He also made me some chocolate cupcakes and put the icing on a few in a the shapes of hearts. I also received a Twix bar, probably my favorite candy.

We went to Whole Foods and bought some Sauvignon blanc white wine and some cheese to have before dinner on Saturday.

We also watched Finding Neverland and listened to nice music. It was a really good Valentine's weekend.

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays and I like being surprised, so Troy made dinner reservations at an undisclosed location. He got all dressed up and even wore a tie, which told me that this place had to be pretty fancy. We got on the 70 bus and started to go south through downtown. I figured we were going to either Seastar, Ruth's Chris, or The Pink Door. As we continued to stay on the bus, it eliminated the chance of any of those places. Finally we got off the bus and started walking. We turned the last corner and then I saw the awning for the restaurant. He was taking me to "The Met", that's The Metropolitan Grill to those of you not very familiar with Seattle. It's probably the most famous place in the city to eat steak. I had completely forgotten about it and was really impressed that Troy finally managed to surprise me, for probably only the second time ever (the first being when he proposed.)

The Met is a pretty nice place. The most expensive bottle of wine you can get there would cost you $2,995. All the waiters had suits on, but the other people eating there weren't as dressed up as we thought they'd be, so it felt more relaxed. We had our coats checked so we wouldn't have to stuff them next to us in the small booth. To start out with, I ordered iced tea and a baby spinach salad. Both of us thought the salad was excellent. It was a big pile of baby spinach leaves topped with jack cheese, crispy bacon bits, mushrooms, almonds, and honey mustard vinaigrette dressing. I figured at a place like The Met that a $7 salad would be fairly small, but it was actually quite a bit of food by itself, so Troy and I basically shared it. The bread was average, but I thought the rye was really good.

It took a while for them to make our steaks, but we didn't mind waiting. I ordered an 8oz filet mignon cooked medium-well with a baked potato and Troy got a 14oz top sirloin cooked medium with a baked potato. Unfortunately we think they switched how we wanted them cooked because my came out with solid red throughout most of the steak and Troy's was almost well done, especially on the outer edges. So, I had to have mine cooked a little longer. Both our steaks still tasted really good though and were very tender.

To make up for my steak being cooked wrong, the waiter brought us free crème brûlée (which normally costs $8). We were so stuffed after our steaks, but I was determined to eat most of the free dessert. I've discovered recently that I really like crème brûlée, so I was happy to have a chance to eat some. We almost finished it and man, were we really really stuffed. I felt pretty uncomfortable on the way home and was so glad to be able to lie down for a while after that awesome meal. Definitely one of the best Valentine's meals I've ever had! I'd love to go back someday, but probably won't for a while.

Several months ago I found out The Lion King was going to be playing at the Paramount Theater, the same place we saw Phantom of the Opera a few months ago. I told Troy I really wanted to see it and so he bought tickets as a Valentine's present for me!

We went to see it last night and it was pretty good. It's very similar to the Disney movie, but with added fluff and extra songs. The opening scene with all the ensemble at the presentation of baby Simba was pretty impressive. There were actors on stilts portraying giraffes and they had huge elephants on stage too. The small animals like Timon and Zazu had people carrying them around as puppets, which was distracting and made it hard to focus on the puppet. We were also pretty far away, so it was a little hard to get into the show really well. The costumes were really impressive though and the set design was cool. I can't say much for the child actors that played young Simba and Nala, but the rest of the actors, especially Zazu, were good.

The touring production seems to be similar to the Broadway version, but is scaled back somewhat. According to Wikipedia:

"The tour version is very similar to the original Broadway production; however, certain scenic elements which rise out of the stage floor (such as Pride Rock, the stampede, and the grasslands) were converted to less costly configurations for the touring productions. The sun during the opening is reduced in size for the shorter-lasting tours. Stage sizes are also smaller, and the volume of music as well as the number of instruments, is decreased."

Still, I'm glad I finally saw the musical version and it was pretty cool going to the Paramount again. But if you're expecting it to be as good as the movie, you might be a little disappointed. It's definitely worth seeing once though.

The parking lot at work borders a train yard. There's something kind of neat about the simple shapes and bright colors of freight.

We've posted more pictures of sunsets from our window. Our view is just amazing.

Another cool sunset from our apartment.

I was tired of being embarrassed by my old web host so I changed web hosting companies this weekend. The host I'm using now, Host Gator, powers their servers with 130% wind power. Yeah, they actually put electricity back into the grid. The blog is hosted by Blogger, but the photo gallery is now hosted by HostGator. They also offer more capacity at a lower rate with better support, so I'm happy I switched so far.

Seattleites seem to really care about the environment and the latest example of that was the pizza we had on Friday night. The top of the box was covered with environmental facts and included a note about how the pizza company is trying to be green.

I think it's cool how treating the planet respectfully is on the minds of so many people here. Eventually we'll all get so used to things like conservation and composting that it won't have to be advertised and will just become a part of normal American life. But in the mean time, I'm happy to buy pizza from a company that is doing their part (and also makes really good pizza).

I've been wanting a new desk for a long time because we've been dealing with an old, crappy, fake wood desk that's been falling apart for years. The corner was completely chipped off, the cabinet door wouldn't stay shut, and the thin piece of cardboard on the back side of the desk had been beaten up significantly. The keyboard tray was damaged during the move. The desk also had several warped spots on the main surface because of liquids, and it just looked cheap to begin with. I wasn't thrilled about taking it with us when we moved here, but we didn't want to be without a desk and didn't think we'd purchase one that soon.

Over the last few months, we've kept our eyes open for small desks we liked, but didn't find anything for a while. Then we decided to try looking at Crate & Barrel and found a desk that we really liked. So we listed the old desk on Craig's list to give away for free and had a response within 30 minutes. Two guys came and took it off our hands, so we didn't have to take it and dump it somewhere ourselves, which was nice. They seemed really appreciative that we gave it to them for free. I guess one person's trash really is another's treasure.

After that we went to get our new desk from Crate & Barrel, and it barely fit in the car. It was almost 100 pounds and was very hard for me to help carry, but we finally made it up to the apartment. Troy put it all together in about an hour and now the desk and the whole corner area looks a lot more open and nice. And it matches the rest of the furniture we've bought. It's pretty cool having a new desk.

Yeah, people really like espresso here.

Even though moving here cost us some money, we are able to deduct most of that cost ($3,264 to be exact) on our tax return. This will save us about $800 in taxes, which is really nice. We had the option of deducting the actual cost of our gas or the number of miles (2,673 to be exact) times 19 cents a mile. It was by far better to chose the latter option. We couldn't deduct our meal expenses, but that wasn't that much money. The bulk of the expense was paying for Mayflower to move our stuff, and after that hotel costs along the way. Not sure why the government is willing to absorb those kinds of costs, but we'll take the deduction.

Sign at Crate and Barrel:

Troy is a contemporary compact sofa for real life. Coming in at just six-and-a-half feet wide but a full three feet deep, [Troy] sits big in small spaces. Firm but plump, Troy's upholstered in a rich microfiber that stands up to high traffic.

I'm just six-and-a-half feet wide but a full three feet deep - yep, that's me - firm but plump.

I've had to go to Federal Way, which is a suburb 20 miles south of here, and it's always foggy every time I drive down there. I'm sure the sun comes out on occasion, but it's kind of strange how different the weather is just 20 miles from here and that it's even less sunny there than it is in the city.

This is one of those list of city rankings that doesn't really mean that much, but Seattle was ranked as the most wired city in the country.

Since 2007, Forbes has measured cities' wired quotient by computing the percentage of Internet users with high-speed connections and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet. Since many urban residents access the Internet by wi-fi, we also measure the number of public wireless Internet hot spots in a particular city.

There seems to be a lot more graffiti here than there was in Dallas/Fort Worth despite how much less run-down the inner city is here. I think the Metroplex has strict graffiti enforcement laws, however the laws here don't seem that lenient either. The city has a graffiti report form online that people can use to notify the city so that property owners can be notified. Graffiti doesn't bother me much, but it can make an area seem unsafe or neglected and encourage even more vandalism, so it's good to get things cleaned up.